Melhania phillipsiae Baker f.
Ara. (Egypt): Hamboak el-ard.
Perennial shrub up to 0.8 m in height, densely stellate-tomentose, with young stems tomentose to lanate. Leaves tomentose-pubescent, leaf blade ovate to broadly ovate, 4-10 × 2-6 cm, rounded to truncated at the apex, with crenate-serrated margins. Petiole 1.5-5.5 cm long. Stipules subulate, 0.8-1.8 cm. Flowers in groups of 2-6, forming tomentose to lanate cymes; peduncle 1.5-4 cm long, pedicels 0.5-1.5 cm; with 3 bracteoles that form an epicalyx, bracteoles 1-2 × 2-5 cm when flowering; fruiting bracteoles 2-4 × 2-5 cm, broadly reniform, pubescent, tomentose when young, with deep sinuses of 3-10 mm. Sepals 5, free almost up to the base, 1-1.2 × 0.2-0.3 cm, accrescent in the fruit where they reach 2.5 × 0.5 cm, densely hairy. Petals yellow, 0.7-1 cm. Stamens 5, alternating with 5 staminodes of 4-7 mm. Ovary sessile, with style 1-3 mm long, ending in 5 stigmas. Fruit in loculicidal capsule, 0.8-1 cm long, ovoid to subglobose, tomentose, with 5 locules, each with 2-3 seeds. Seeds 3-4 mm long, tuberculate.
Flowering:
January to November.
Fruiting:
February to December.
Habitat:
Limestone and volcanic slopes, from 120-1,100 m.
Distribution:
SE of Egypt, NE of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Niger and Arabia.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species, but widely distributed. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is listed as Least Concern (LC) at global level (Lansdown, 2013).